Syracuse University defense confident it has formula to shut down run, get after Rutgers' QB

Frank Ordoñez / The Post-StandardLouisville tailback Victor Anderson slips past Syracuse University football free safety for a first down during the second half of the Cardinals' 28-20 victory in the Carrier Dome.

Syracuse, NY -- Andrew Lewis calls the Big East “a copycat league.”

For instance, the senior defensive tackle on the Syracuse University football team knows Rutgers, SU’s 3:30 p.m. Big East opponent Saturday (ESPNU) in New Jersey, has yielded an unholy 35 sacks in eight games this season.

“When you see the stats, as a player you want to say, ‘OK, what’s behind those stats?’” Lewis said. “So you go into the film room and you say, ‘Well, these are the positions they were put in and this is the reason the stats are like that, so how can we put them in the same situations so we can be successful?’”

The copycatting works both ways, which is why SU head coach Doug Marrone added a new source of concern to his growing list in the wake of the Orange’s 28-20 loss to Louisville last week. The Cardinals disregarded SU’s reputation as one of the nation’s best run defenses over the last one-plus seasons and plowed through the Orange front seven for 115 second-half yards on the ground. The production allowed them to overcome a 17-14 halftime deficit and win going away.

The coaches and players at Rutgers (4-4, 1-2) will surely review the film and wonder if Louisville discovered a blueprint for beating Scott Shafer’s aggressive system, which has carried SU (6-3, 3-2) to the cusp of bowl eligibility.

“It’s not a blueprint, but for me to sit here and say it’s not a concern is a lie,” Marrone said earlier this week. “Anytime someone has success you have to make sure you cover it and you handle it. Is there a concern because (Louisville) had success running the football? Absolutely. Now you know that people will challenge us that way, and we have to step up to the challenge.”

Shafer and his defensive veterans are firm in their assessment that no flaw was uncovered in a unit that will enter Saturday’s game ranked No. 10 in the nation in total defense, allowing only 299 yards per game, and No. 31 in rush defense (124.33).

“They did a good job,” Shafer said of Louisville’s second-half ground explosion after gaining only 45 in the first half. “I think you always have to start and say what did they do? And they did a good job. They got movement up to our second level and we weren’t playing downhill the way we need to with our linebackers. It’s one of those things you really don’t notice as much until after the game when we’re watching the videotape. So we’ve addressed that.”

“They beat us,” Lewis said. “They were better than us on Saturday. That’s really what it came down to. There is nothing else to it.”

Shafer said there is nothing wrong with the scheme and nothing wrong with the effort of his players.

“It wasn’t anything where we felt they lost their focus,” he said. “We got beat. At the end of the day they beat us. They made plays when they had to and we didn’t. It was as simple as that. It had nothing to do with their effort or attitude.”

There is no question Rutgers will attempt to duplicate Louisville’s second-half performance, even though it has struggled to run the ball this season. SU is likely to see a heavy dose of power running and a bunch of Wildcat formations for the first time this season.

The Knights know firsthand what can happen to a team that fails to run the ball effectively against a Shafer defense. RU quarterbacks were sacked nine times last season during a 31-13 upset at Syracuse, as the Knights were unable to establish the run (they finished with 26 yards) and SU unleashed a torrent of blitzers at them on passing downs. Orange linebacker Doug Hogue set a school record with 6.5 tackles for a loss, 3.5 of them sacks.

“I remember the game like the back of my hand,” Hogue said. “We need another one like that. We need another one.”

It was a textbook example of Shafer’s scheme working as designed. Stop the run, and then get after the quarterback. It is imperative to do the first before embarking on the second, a fact Shafer made clear before his first Orange defense ever took the field.

“The goals for this defense are as follows: Stop the run,” he said upon his arrival. “Every defensive coordinator says that, but you need to really look at your scheme and say are you really giving the kids a chance to do that?

“You stop the run. And if you can stop the run and force an offense to be one-dimensional ... even though maybe they choose to be a passing offense first and a run offense second, if you can eliminate the run and force them to throw, then maybe you have some opportunities to have some pressures and that sort of thing to give the kids a chance to really tee off on them.”

SU defensive end Mikhail Marinovich said the genius of Shafer’s system always allows the Orange to have one more defender in the play than an opponent can block. Somehow, though, Louisville blocked everybody, hence Marrone’s concern.

The importance of stopping the run is reflected in SU’s Big East results since Shafer’s arrival with Marrone prior to the 2009 season. In SU’s eight conference losses foes averaged 143.4 rushing yards per game, good but not great production. In SU’s four victories they averaged an anemic 84.0. Run the ball the way Louisville did in the second half last week, allowing the quarterback manageable down-and-distance situations and it all falls apart.

“That’s exactly right,” Shafer said. “I think a lot of people have tried to do that this year against us. We just have to adjust to the elements better than we did Saturday. Hats off to Louisville. They adjusted. They had a good game plan, a simple game plan, and they made their adjustments better than we did. Going into the game, we did not adjust as well as we have in the past. That’s been a big focus with the kids. I know the kids are anxious to get back on the field.”

And stop the run. Rutgers, conversely, knows it will have to run effectively or run the risk of a repeat of last season. It should be football in its most basic element.

“That’s a challenge we’re looking forward to,” Hogue said. “That’s what our defense is about, stopping the run. Coming downhill and hitting guys. It kind of got away from us a little bit. Louisville played a good game. We just have to pick up our level of play this week because this team is going to come right at us. We know what’s going to happen.”

One of these two things: SU will stop the run and have a good chance to win the game, or Rutgers will establish the run and the Orange will be in trouble.

“We just have to be who we are,” Shafer said. “Period. We just have to be who we are and do a good job of trusting our eyes and playing our techniques.”